Legacy book club questions

1. 1.

   What is the founding story your organization tells about itself, and does it shape daily behavior the way the All Blacks' origin narrative does for them?

2. 2.

   Kerr argues that humble behavior isn't personality — it's a practice that teams can design. Where does your team's culture make humility easy or hard?

3. 3.

   Which of the fifteen principles feels most foreign to your organization's current culture, and why?

4. 4.

   "Sweep the sheds" is the most-cited idea in the book. What is the equivalent in your workplace, and who actually does it?

5. 5.

   The All Blacks explicitly define and protect their values. Has your team written down the values it actually practices rather than the ones it aspires to?

6. 6.

   Kerr distinguishes between performing under pressure and crumbling under it. What conditions in your team's environment produce one versus the other?

7. 7.

   The book uses Maori concepts of identity and obligation. How do cultural frameworks outside your own tradition show up in how your team thinks about purpose?

8. 8.

   What stories does your team tell about failures? Are those stories used for learning or buried?

9. 9.

   If the "legacy" your team is building were written down today, would it match what the team actually does day to day?

10. 10.

    Which leader or colleague in your experience has modeled the kind of distributed leadership Kerr describes, and what did that look like in practice?

11. 11.

    The All Blacks use specific language — "haka," "blue head," "going for the gap" — to encode culture. Does your team have shared language that carries real meaning, or is it jargon?

12. 12.

    Kerr says culture is more than values on a wall. What is the gap between your stated culture and the actual lived experience of new team members?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.